Betemit caps Orioles' ninth-inning rally with walk-off homer

O's fight back from two-run deficit in last inning to beat A's, 5-2

Wilson Betemit smiles as he heads for home plate after hitting… (Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina…)

April 29, 2012|By Eduardo A. Encina | The Baltimore Sun

As Wilson Betemit rounded third, he flung his batting helmet in the air and charged headfirst into the mob awaiting him at home plate.

A remarkable comeback struck quickly -- the stadium siren blaring and the seating bowl fervent -- with the Orioles, down to their final two outs, rallying Sunday for a 5-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics at Camden Yards in front of an announced 31,793.

Betemit capped a five-run ninth inning with a three-run shot -- the first walk-off homer of his career -- taking a fastball from Oakland closer Grant Balfour (0-1) onto the groundskeepers' shed roof in right-center field and giving the Orioles their first win on a walk-off home run since Aug. 10.

Another strong pitching performance and some savvy defensive plays nearly weren't enough to salvage a series win against Oakland. For eight innings, the Orioles were shut out by 38-year-old starter Bartolo Colon.

But these Orioles seem to have a flair for the dramatic, winning their fifth game this season when trailing after seven innings.

Albeit a rarity over the past 14 years, meaningful baseball in Baltimore has survived the April chill. And with the win, the Orioles (14-8) stayed atop the American League East and moved to six games above .500 for the first time in nearly seven seasons, since July 20, 2005.

"It beats the alternative," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "It's like the right side of the earth. I just like seeing a lot of our guys getting a return for what they've been putting into it from a team standpoint. This group has a good relationship with each other. We're going to need contributions from everybody to have the type of year we want to have."

The win sealed a 5-1 record on this six-game homestand and gave the Orioles their fifth series victory in seven series this season.

In the Orioles' clubhouse after the game, calm followed the chaos, as players packed their bags for a train ride to New York to start a six-game road trip against the division-heavyweight New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

"It's definitely early," said Mark Reynolds, who turned in one of several key defensive plays in his first start at first this season. "A lot of baseball left to play, a lot of tough games coming up for us, but it changes your attitude and your mood coming to the yard knowing that these games mean something still and we're still right in the thick of things heading out of April.

"We have a tough road trip coming up, and we've got a pretty tough schedule coming up," Reynolds said. "We're going to give it hell and play our tails off and see where we are."

The Orioles came into the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 2-0 against Colon, but infield singles by J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones chased Colon from the game and brought the winning run to the plate in catcher Matt Wieters with one out.

Wieters came into that at-bat having gone just 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, but he took a 1-2 curveball from Balfour the opposite way off the bottom of the left-center-field fence for a double, tying the game at 2.

"I still knew he had the breaking ball in his back pocket, so I was just really trying to read it and tried to put good swing on something, tried to get something to the outfield to maybe tie up the game," Wieters said. "I was able to put a good swing on it. I felt like I had some good swings all day but finally found the barrel."

After Balfour intentionally walked Chris Davis to set up forceouts at first, second and third, Betemit pulled a 3-1 fastball over the outside part of the plate just to the left of the 373-foot mark in right-center field, prompting a celebration at home plate.

"I didn't know [it was a home run]," Betemit said. "I just swung at it. I didn't know the ball is gone. I just hit the ball, and I tried to put it in play."

The Orioles' ninth-inning rally saved right-handed starter Tommy Hunter from getting the loss. Hunter gave the Orioles their 13th start of six or more innings; they are 12-1 in those games.

Hunter set the tone for the Orioles' 57th straight win when allowing two or fewer runs, throwing seven strong innings and surrendering just two runs on seven hits. He struck out two and walked just one, his lowest walk total since his first start of the season April 7.

The A's (11-12) didn't have many scoring opportunities against Hunter, who tossed five scoreless innings before allowing an RBI double to Yoenis Cespedes in the sixth and a homer to Seth Smith to open the seventh.

"You get deeper in games and you make runs matter and you make runs stand up, there's a [morale] that develops with a club," Showalter said. "Instead of constantly going, 'How much is going to be enough?' you always try to create a margin of error. When you get a tack-on run, it means something. Tommy Hunter pitched seven innings today, and that's as key as anything that happened today."